Abstract
Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis (PAP) in lung transplant recipients (LuTRs) has high heterogeneity between centers. Our aim was to investigate retrospectively the approach to PAP in our center over a 20-year period (2002-2023), and its impact on early post-operative infections (EPOIs) after lung transplantation (LuT). Primary endpoint was diagnosis of EPOI, defined as any bacterial infection including donor-derived events diagnosed within 30 days from LuT. Main exposure variables were type of PAP (combination vs. monotherapy) and PAP duration. We enrolled 111 LuTRs. PAP consisted of single-agent or combination regimens in 26 (25.2%) and 85 (74.8%) LuTR. Median PAP duration was 10 days (IQR 6-13) days. Piperacillin/tazobactam was the most common agent used either as monotherapy (n = 21, 80.7%) or as combination with levofloxacin (n = 79, 92.9%). EPOIs were diagnosed in 30 (27%) patients. At multivariable analysis no advantages were found for combination regimens compared to single-agent PAP in preventing EPOI (OR: 1.57, 95% CI: 0.488-5.068, p:0.448). The impact of PAP duration on EPOIs development was investigated including duration of PAP ≤6 days as main exposure variables, without finding a significantly impact (OR:2.165, 95% CI: 0.596-7.863, p: 0.240). Our results suggest no advantages for combination regimens PAP in preventing EPOI in LuTR.